Improvement in machines for making- wire rope



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Letters Patent No. 92,870, dated July 20, 1869.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES POR MAKING WIRE ROPE.

The Schedule referred to fin these Letters Patent and makmg part of thesamer Toall whomit may con-cern Be it known that l, CHARLES H v. MORGAN,of \Vorccstcr, county of Worcester, and State of Massachusetts, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Machines for Forming or Layingup Tire Rope; and I do liereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and accurate descriptionthereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of my invention consists in giving to each strand orcomponent part of a rope a uniform tension during the process of formingor laying up a wire rope, to accomplish which, I have organized amachine containing mechanism which I call a spool-carrier. Said carriercontains a spool of wire, and two or more grooved friction-rolls, overand around vwhich the wire passes from the. spool to Jthe point forlaying up the rope; also compound levers, friction-strap, or brakes, andspring-balances, as will be described.

These' improvements will be fully understood by reference to thefollowing specification, and the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure1 is a plan or top view.

Figure 2 is a` side elevation.

Figure'3 is a plan of the spool-carrier, containing the mechanis'm tolproduce a uniform tension of the wire in laying up or 'forming the wirerope.

Figure 4 is a longitudinal vertical section of the Saline.

Figure 5 is a side elevation of the spool-carrier or frame, shown infigs. 3 and 4, supported upon standards, in position to furnish themachine with a wire or strand for a c ore for the rope, if one isdesired.

a a a represent the frame-work ofthe machine, which supports theworking-parts.

b is a crank, attached to the shaft c, having secured to it the gear d.Y

e is a gear, secured to the holldw shaft f, which passes horizontallythrough the centre of the machine, supported at one end in the box g,and at lthe other upon the friction-rolls 7l. li, attached to the framea, and flier-head i, attached to the shaft f. This shaft has alsosecured to it the flier-head j and the wire guide k, and, runningloosely upon it, the gear Z, which is fastened to the gear fla.

n is a shaft, having secured to it the gears o and p.

q is a shaft, running parallel with the shaft f, and supported in thefra-nie a, having secured to it the spur-gear 9' and the bevel-gear s,engaging with the larger bevel-gear t, upon the shaftgt, runninghorizontally at right angles with the shaft q, and having also aspur-gear, c, upon it, which engages with the gear w, upon a paralle1shaft,fv.

y is a cylinder, having two or more grooves around it, and attached tothe gear vun z is a shaft, running parallel with the shaft x, and havingupon ita bobbin or drum, A, suitable to-contain the wire rope as it isfinished by the machine.

af a are spool-carrier, which are supported in the flier-heads t andj,by journals, one of which is hollow, through which the wire passes.

The 'ournal at the other end of the spool-carrier isVA solid, to whichareattac-hed thespur-gears l/ b.

. c is a spool of wire, supported and running upon the pin d. Said spoolhas one broad head, with groove in it, to receive the friction-strap c.

f' is a flanged roll, supported in the frame or carrier a,'upon the pingf.;

hv is a bow-shaped or forked lever, pivoted at its endsupon the pin g',having in its centre the frictionroll i', supported upon nicely-adjustedbearings or pivots, the frame or forked lever h being so constructed asto move fieely in Vthe inside of the spool-frame or carrier a al.4

e is a friction-strap, of steel, or any suitable material, which passesaround the grooved heads of the spools c', both ends of the same beingsecured to the forked lever h', bythe pin 7c.

Z is a narrow-grooved friction-roll, supported in the spool-frame orcarrier a', upon the shaft m.

n is a horizontal lever, attached at one end (see fig. 4) to the forkedlever 7L', hy the eye-bolts o and-1)', having for its fulcrum, the shaftm and projection q', and at the other end, the nicely-adj ustedspring-balance r, the end of the lever resting upon the hook of thebalance, the whole being supported and adjusted by the boit t and thenut u.

If a core is desired for the rope, standards c c may be employed forsupporting mechanism, similar to that in frame a', and the journals ofthis spool-frame, earrying the core-strand, will b'e arranged in linewith the hollow shaft j", so as to deliver its strand through suchshaftto be covered by the strands of theA rope proper.

Having described the manner in which the several parts of my machine arcarranged, I willnow proceed to describe how the same operate together.

The spools c being filled with Wire, the ends of the wire are passedover the friction-rolls f', under frictionrolls c", over friction-rollsl', and through the hollow journals of the'spool-carriers and slots inthe guide k, when the wires or strands are brought together, unitingwith a wire or strand of hemp, to form a core, drawn from thespool-frame, (iig. 5,) through the hollow shaft f, provided thecore-strand is used. The wires or strands are passed around the groovedpulleys attac-hed to the gears w and c, and made fast to the spool A, onthe shaft z, which receives the nished rope.

Having furnished the machine with wire, proceed to turn the crank l),attached to the driving-shaft c of uniform length on the severalvspools.

which communicates motion to all the various shafts ofthe machine, bymeans of trains of gears connecting the shafts together.

The motion of the spool-frames a. a. is peculiar, inasmuch as they aresupported upon journals in the Hier-heads 'i and j, and pass around thehollow shaft f, the gears b' b' being engaged with the gear m, and thegears m and Z are connected together, and run loosely on the shaft f,and make two revolutions to one of the shaft f, whereby thespool-carriers are made to revolve around the shaft f, in all positionskeeping thesarn'e side up, the result of which is to lay the severalstands of wire in thc-rope without twisting them.

In the process of rope-making, the strands are of unequal length, as itwould be difficult to put strands In case it could be done, it is notdesirable to havethe splicings of strands come at one place in a rope,therefore some of the spools will be nearly empty, while others arenearly full; and it has been found impossible to secure uniform tension.I h. ve therefore invented a self-reg nlating mechanism to produceuniform tension on the strands of a rope, which operates as follows:

In order to draw the Wire from the spool c', the friction of the brake e`upon the head of the spool must be relieved. This friction ismaintained by the action of the spring-balance fr through the levers In.and h.

When a certain amount of force is applied to Athe wire strand, the leverh is raised, by the strand passing under the friction-roll i', attachedto the lever h', overcoming the power of the spring-balance, andrelieving the spool from the friction ol the brake c', maiutaininguniform tension upon thc strand A, regardless of the quantity of wireupon the spools.

'Ihc spring-balances are provided with adjustingscrew and nut, to adaptthe machine to make large or small rope, it being obvious that smallrope would rcquire less tension than large rope;

Heretofore great diiculty has beenexperienced in producing good ropefrom wire, from the fact that wire is more rigid than any other materialused in the manufacture of cordage, and that it cannot yield tounevenness of tension without great detriment tothe strength of therope, it being awell-known fact that in aope of maximum strength, eachof its component parts must bear its proportion of the strain applied tothe rope.

I make no claim to the standards v fu. 4

Having set forth the nature, construction, and operation oi' myinvention,

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is`-` 1. lhecombination of the mechanism, herein described, constructed andoperating substantially as set forth. Y v

2. The spool-carrier with its adjustable brake, constructed andoperating to produce uniform tension on the wire, substantially asdescribed.

CHAS. H. MORGAQTJ" NVitncsscs J. HENRY HILL, Gno. WoooWAlnD.

